Local law enforcement officials are investigating the death of a 3-year-old child in Shallotte. According to Brunswick County coroner Greg White, the child was pronounced dead around 9 a.m. Thursday morning at the Brunswick Novant Medical Center's emergency room.

SHALLOTTE—A 3-year-old boy is dead and the man who left him at a local hospital is in jail following a high-speed police chase in Shallotte last Thursday.

A second suspect was taken into custody on drug charges following a search of a Shallotte residence where the boy may have been fatally injured.

“There are two suspects, and they are both in jail on different charges,” said Rodney Gause, Shallotte police chief, on Tuesday afternoon. “There were two suspects in the house: one on the chase and one in the house.”

SHALLOTTE—Eleven-year-old Benjamin Higgins is a fifth-grade student at Union Elementary School and he has the chance to win $50,000 for a new cafeteria facility for the school.

But he can’t win without your help.

Higgins entered the Uncle Ben’s-Ben’s Beginners Cooking Contest. As a finalist he is mere votes away from bringing home a $50,000 prize for Union Elementary, $20,000 for his family and winning a trip to appear on the Rachael Ray Show.

Brunswick Community College is standing united with other North Carolina Community Colleges in asking the state to restore community college funding.

“We need restoration of funds to meet our overall goals,” said Susanne Adams, president of BCC. “We keep hearing that community colleges are going to fix this economy but that is not reflected in our budgeted money.

OCEAN ISLE BEACH—On Wednesday, Feb. 22, the town of Ocean Isle Beach conducted their annual budget workshop retreat. During the daylong meeting, the board of commissioners met with town staff including department heads and discussed upcoming issues and expenditures facing the town in the upcoming fiscal year.

SUNSET BEACH—Construction work is under way on a future state-operated boat ramp on the Intracoastal Waterway.

Soon, the water work portion of the project will be finished, Sunset Beach Town Administrator Gary Parker said, speaking at a day-long town council retreat Feb. 21 at Sea Trail.

Then the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission will bring in its own construction crew to do land work, including a parking lot. The goal is to have the ramp completed in time for the upcoming season, Parker said.